Considerable research and resources have been devoted to oncology and antitumor measures including chemotherapy. While certain methods and chemical compositions have been developed which aid in inhibiting, remitting or controlling the growth of tumors, new methods and antitumor chemical compositions are needed.
It has been found that some natural products and organisms are potential sources for chemical molecules having useful biological activity of great diversity. Marine sponges have proved to be such a source and a number of publications have issued disclosing organic compounds derived from marine sponges including Scheuer, P. J. Ed., Marine Natural Products, Chemical and Biological Perspectives; Academic Press, New York, 1978, Vol. I, pp 175-240; Faulkner, D. J., Natural Products Reports 1987, 4, 539-576 and references cited therein; Uemura et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc., 1985, 107, 4796-4798; Minale, L., et al., Fortschr. Chem. org. Naturst. 1976, 33, 1-72.
Discorhabdin compounds related to those of this invention have been produced from marine sponges as disclosed in U.S. No. 4,731,366 and have been discussed in various publications including:
Perry, N. B., et al., J. Org. Chem. 1986, 51, 5476; Blunt, J. W., et al., J. Nat. Prod. 1987, 50, 290; Munro, M. H. G., et al., Bioorganic Marine Chemistry; Scheuer, P. J., Ed.; Verlag Chemie: Heidelberg, 1987, Vol. 1, Chapter 4; Kobayashi, J., et al., Tetrahedron Letters 1987, 28, 4939; Perry, N. B., et al., Tetrahedron 1988, 44, 1727, Perry N. B., et al., J. Org. Chem. 1988, 53, 4127 and Cheng et al., J. Org. Chem. 1988, 53, 4610.
This present invention, utilizing sponges as a source material and supplemented by specific production methods, has provided the art with a new biologically active compound and new pharmaceutical compositions useful as antitumor agents.
Other advantages and further scope of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed descriptions given herein; it should be understood, however, that the detailed descriptions, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will become apparent from such descriptions.